Transcript The_Art_of_Ancient_Egypt

The Art of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian Art
Defined
• Ancient Egyptian art refers to the style of
painting, sculpture, crafts and architecture
developed by the civilization in the lower Nile
Valley from 5000 BC to 300 AD. Ancient Egyptian
art was expressed in paintings and sculptures & was
both highly stylized and symbolic. Much of the
surviving art comes from tombs and monuments
and thus there is an emphasis on life after death and
the preservation of knowledge of the past.
Symbolism
In Ancient Egyptian Art
• Symbolism, ranging from the pharaoh's clothing (symbolizing his
power to maintain order) to the individual symbols of Egyptian gods
and goddesses, is everywhere in Egyptian art.
• Animals were usually also highly symbolic figures in Egyptian art.
• Colors were more expressive rather than natural: red skin implied
vigorous tanned youth, whereas yellow skin was used for women or
middle-aged men who worked indoors; blue or gold indicated divinity
because of its unnatural appearance and association with precious
materials; the use of black for royal figures expressed the fertility of
the Nile from which Egypt was born.
Notice the clothing of the
pharaohs in this picture…
If blue and gold were symbols of
divinity, then talk about this mask of
King Tut…
Ancient Egyptian Architecture
• Ancient Egyptian architects used sun-dried and kiln-baked bricks, fine
sandstone, limestone and granite.
• Architects carefully planned all their work. The stones had to fit
precisely together.
• Ramps were used to allow workmen to move up as the height of the
construction grew. When the top of the structure was completed, the
artists decorated from the top down, removing ramp sand as they went
down.
• Exterior walls contained only a few small openings.
• Hieroglyphic and pictorial carvings in brilliant covers were abundantly
used to decorate the structures, including many motifs, like the scarab,
sacred beetle, the solar disk, and the vulture.
Building a Pyramid
Hieroglyphics
The Sphinx
Ancient Egyptian Pottery
• Ancient Egyptians used steatite (some varieties were called
soapstone) and carved small pieces of vases, amulets,
images of deities, of animals and several other objects.
Ancient Egyptian artists also discovered the art of covering
pottery with enamel. Covering by enamel was also applied
to some stone works.
Ancient Egyptian Sculpture
• The ancient art of Egyptian sculpture evolved to represent the ancient
Egyptian gods, Pharaohs, and the kings and queens, in physical form.
Whether there was real portraiture in Ancient Egypt or not is still debated
till now. Massive statues were built to represent gods and famous kings
and queens. These statues were supposed to give eternal life to the kings
and queens, and to enable the subjects to see them in physical forms.
• Very strict conventions were followed while crafting statues: male statues
were darker than the female ones; in seated statues, hands were required
to be placed on knees and specific rules governed appearance of every
Egyptian god. For example, the sky god (Horus) was essentially to be
represented with a falcon’s head, the god of funeral rites (Anubis) was to
be always shown with a jackal’s head.
• These conventions were intended to convey a timelessness and non aging
representation of the figure's ka, or life for an eternal afterlife.
Pharaoh and Queen: Notice how the
male figure is painted much darker
than the female figure.
Ramses II: Notice hand on
knee
Hieroglyphs
• Hieroglyphics are the ancient Egyptian writing system in
which pictures and symbols stand for sounds and words.
Jean-Francois Champollion first decoded hieroglyphics
from Rosetta Stone, which was found in 1799.
Hieroglyphics have more than 700 symbols.
Ancient Egyptian Paintings
• Many ancient Egyptian paintings have survived due to
Egypt's extremely dry climate. The paintings were often
made with the intent of making a pleasant afterlife for the
deceased. The themes included journey through the
afterworld or protective deities introducing the deceased to
the gods of the underworld (such as Osiris). Some tomb
paintings show activities that the deceased were involved
in when they were alive and wished to carry on doing for
eternity.
• Egyptian paintings are painted in such a way to show a
profile view and a side view of the animal or person.